Candlestone Cavern
The group let Vesnic take the lead. Kamira followed nearby stealthily while Alaric and Menasius went invisible. Zalura just hung back further. Soon they came across the cave and saw a woman standing in the entrance. She didn't notice the group right away but soon turned, indicating that she noticed Vesnic was not alone.
It did not take long until hostility was apparent from Mierela and what appeared to be the shadow remnant of Tar-Baphon's soul that escaped the tower. Kamira was the first to see it as she came up to hit the spellcaster. The sorcerer harrower ended up being able to counter several of Alaric's spells, to the chagrin of the party's caster. He put an end to the absorption of her spells by destroying her ioun stone. Menasius was all too pleased to take aggressions out on the shadow for escaping earlier.
During all of this, Vesnic remained standing back, watching. Zalura elected to keep an eye on him just as she made sure her party members didn't need her aid. Soon the vampire breathed a sigh of relief as Mierela and the shadow fell. It was over - the Night Harrows were done. The party inquired if Vesnic needed to go anywhere, and he said that he preferred to stay in Taldor. He was done with Ustalav.
The party turned their attention to the cave and spent several hours searching for the sigil - which they did find. Menasius opened the door and they were greated by a silent gold dragon. The seal was still in tact.
After ensuring the seal was fine, the party returned to Vigil to report their findings to the relief of Garvis. However, there was something else that bothered him. He did manage to explain why the guardian was so silent, the dragon having lost his voice in a fight a long time ago. Once matters were covered about the end of the Night Harrows, Garvis took the party to the college to show them the Shield of Aroden. The party could see a bit of corruption, a blackness slowly spreading from the missing piece outward. Garvis said this started yesterday. He was afraid of what would happen should the whole shield be corrupted.
He informed the party of the different means to bypass the Seals. They could seek out the Seneschal of Gallowspire, or they could take the shield to the Major Seal. Both would offer means into Tar-Baphon's sanctum. Garvis told them all that they needed was the missing piece from the Tyrant's hand. A feat he knew was a very dangerous undertaking. The party accepted this with some reservation, but knew it had to be done. (Though they did ask if destroying the shield was an option, one that Garvis said may take the will of a god to do).
The party sold items they found on their trek and began preparing for their return journey to Gallowspire.
Return to Gallowspire
On Desnus 5th, the party teleported to an area they knew was just outside the Witchgates between Gallowspire and Ravengro. They spent the morning traveling by horse to Adorak. Upon arrival, the party knew to be careful as they walked the streets and toward Gallowspire. The undead either did not see them, or remembered them, as the party was left unhindered. Even the sink holes left them be.
(GM Note: I rolled in the party's favor. Nothing came up for random encounters).
Arriving at the gate, Alaric used negative energy to open the gate and the party stepped inside. Kamira took a look at the stairs and asked if they had to climb all the way up again. The party took their time, and while the stairs tried to mess with them, they were able to climb the entire flight up to the very top without issue. Looking around, the party saw the mark on the tower and then one adamantine slab at the center. They used a knock spell to open it, revealing the tower within.
(GM Note: Since they dealt with most of the outside, I let them have an easy trip up - because the trip inside was not going to be easy).
Kamira went first and saw that gravity switched and she was now walking in a tube. The others saw this change and carefully walked in. Kamira tried to walk around the tube, but found that the gravity only chose one part to be "ground". Knowing that they needed to find the Senechal, the group began looking in every room that they found. The first only contained notes and experiments. Someone was studying strong magics.
In the second room, the party heard a voice behind them. In the doorway stood a wight. Turned out that this was Gildais, the Seneschal. The party spoke with him, asking for his aid. The wight told them that he would take them inside if they promised him one thing - to not tell Tar Baphon about his knowledge of a passage way in and out of the prison. The party had no trouble accepting the terms. So Gildais took the party through a series of secret passages that soon led to a "dead end". Gildais said that he would open this and allow them through, but that was as far as he would go. The party stepped through and into the first layer of the depths below the tower of Gallowspire.
The first area was roughly cut in places, and in one section, they could see spots where someone tried to dig through. Further on, the area that had been a dormitory of sorts was completely destroyed. Inside was an undead who was sifting through the rubble. He introduced himself as the Prince of Fangs and spoke briefly to the party about what had happened. Seemed that Tar Baphon did not take his imprisonment lightly and destroyed this level - which the Prince of Fangs had claimed. He said that he would allow the party through and tell them where to find Tar Baphon but he required one of their party in exchange. He even said that he would let them choose who they would leave behind. The party didn't care for this, and the ghoul attacked. Soon the Prince was put down and the party continued forward - only to run into two more ghoul apprentices. Kamira fell to a very powerful disintegrate, but Zalura was able to step forward and use a mythic ability to bring her back. It took time, but these two ghouls were soon dealt with.
(GM Note: I used the Master Universalist Wizard Level 20 from the NPC guide and added a ghoul template. This was for all three of them, but I made the spell list smaller for the two apprentices).
The party then continued on down to the next area. This area seemed to be better constructed, less natural. The bones everywhere didn't help matters. The group decided to head left at the fork but didn't get far before skeletons began to rise. And continued to rise even though they were hardly difficult to knock down. After a moment, the bones settled and the party hoped to continue down the tunnel.
Thanks, Helaman!
Continuing deeper into what appeared to be catacombs, the party ran into a large statue of Tar Baphon in an open area. There didn't appear to be anything particularly special about the statue, except that after inspecting the statue (considering if the paladin should pee on it) and deciding to move on, a horde of undead began to rise. The whispers of defilers and other means of calling them disrespectful, showed the party that apparently the proper respects were not paid to the statue - not that anyone was going to. The statue glowed as the undead came in waves, but soon the waves ended, the skeletons and zombie horde defeated.
(GM Note: Zombie horde was a last minute addition when I looked up Zombie on the D20 SRD and saw the third party Zombie horde.)
Moving deeper into the catacombs after taking a quick break, the group ran into a pillared room with three undead individuals. All of them not pleased with the arrival of the party. It took a moment for the group to find their locations but the rogues quickly came into view to strike the sorcerer while the paladin attacked the fighter. Soon the party triumphed and in response, they heard a loud roar. Well, everyone but the paladin heard this. Unsure of the source, the party moved forward cautiously until Kamira remarked that she saw a dragon - like the ravener they saw in Adorak. It turned out this one was a green ravener and none too pleased to see the mortals.
(GM Note: The Rogue rolled for traps throughout most of this dungeon, so far the dice like them and they have not encountered any - yet. As to the Ravener, this was an ancient green.)
But that was not the only creature within the room. Two demi liches moved into action, causing the party to grow very wary. As the dragon fell, one of the demi liches let out a horrible wail, killing Zalura and Eyla. Alaric buffed the party and encased on of the demi liches in a force shield while Menasius and Kamira attacked them one at a time. Soon the creatures were defeated - but everyone knew it was only temporary.
(GM Note: The demi liches were in the wings and I planned to have them join when it looked like the dragon was done for. Rolling a 1 on your will save vs wail of the banshee is never a good idea. Rolling a 2 for your familiar isn't any better.)
Menasius was able to cast raise dead on Zalura and the group worked on healing. They had taken quite the beating and decided to go up a few floors to rest before continuing on. Luck was with them as they were able to sleep undisturbed.
After resting, Eyla was raised and the group made their way back down. With several hours of walking, the group found themselves in a large cavern. Menasius made the comment that why would Tar Baphon want to be at the surface - he had a kingdom here. It was a hard one to argue considering all that the group had seen so far. The darkness soon lifted enough that the party could see further into the dark at long last. This didn't help them see the walls - a testament of how large the cavern really was. Off to the party's right was a lake. Toward the far side was a black crystal. Alaric could see that it was a part of the negative energy plane.
As they were studying this, the party heard movement behind them and saw the approach of two Nightwalkers. It didn't take long for the battle to begin, nor was it long before one of the Nightwalkers dropped. This seemed to summon something awful from the water. A colossal creature, a Nightwave rose from the waters and flew inland to attack. It swallowed up Menasius, who was forced to use his war razor to cut his way out. It wasn't long after the paladin was freed that the bard was swallowed. Luckily the creature was near death (and the other Nightwalker already gone). Once dead, it dropped to the ground, and Kamira was freed. She produced Menasius' scimitar after a moment (having been dropped inside the creature's belly). In exchange, Menasius created water for Kamira to clean off.
Continuing on, the group at last found the end of the cavern and entered into another long tunnel. This ended in what looked to be a throne room. An elaborate bone chair stood at one side of the room, and seated upon it was Tar Baphon himself. Surrounding the room were skeletal remains. The party initiated conversation, or at least tried but they found the Tyrant's responses shorter than expected. It seemed that he was willing to bargain, up until asked what was needed in return. The party knew they were in for a fight when a force wall was erected. Alaric created a way to get through the wall, allowing himself and Menasius through easily. The Tyrant slowed the girls' escape by creating tentacles. Kamira was able to get through, and Zalura choose to dimension door through.
The boys escaped the grasp of the tentacles and Menasius joined Kamira up close with the Tyrant, who couldn't seem to hit the nimble bard. Alaric moved over by Zalura and quickly found that she was not responding to him. But she was also not attacking someone. He spent time breaking the enchantment while the others fought the Tyrant. Soon, the final blow hit Tar Baphon, but instead of the expected lich "death", he exploded into a reddish mist that began to drain life from the others. Apparently, this was not Tar Baphon but a Simulacrum.
Using various magic, the party soon defeated the mist and could finally breath again. Taking a moment, the group healed and considered their options. They decided to rest for an hour to bolster themselves and then press onward. Though they had yet to find another path...
After taking time to rest, the party addressed the issue of finding if there was a way out of the room other than the way they came. Kamira found a switch on the back of the throne which lowered the dais and revealed a secret tunnel. Kamira continued to search for traps, but didn't find any. As they rounded the corner of one particular level, she saw four very large vrock's sitting around. She slipped back to the party to mention what she saw before the group moved forward. The vrock's didn't seem interested in attacking, and were just as surprised to see living beings down there (just as the party was surprised to see something not undead). Menasius asked them if they worked for Tar Baphon, and Blood Talon, the leader, spoke up saying "What's it to you?". It didn't take long until the conversation was ended by the leader drawing her Kukri. Kamira jumped in and began the attack, while three of the four were hit with exhaustion by Alaric. Menasius and Zalura moved forward to add to the attacks and soon enough all four were defeated.
(GM Note: I used Vrock's with the large template, and Blood Talon was a 12th level Ranger using two-weapon fighting.)
There were two exits out of the room, one of which led to a dead end with no door. The other led into a larger throne room with benches. Standing before the throne was Tar-Baphon. This one appeared to be the real thing. Menasius and Alaric had come to the center of the room to speak with the tyrant while the girls stood behind them. Tar-Baphon was cordial to the party, knowing exactly why they were there. When the idea of a bargain was brought up, he said that he was quite willing to do so, though no one in the room believed that either side would go through with such a thing. Likely enough Tar-Baphon's price would be too high. During the exchange, Alaric put his hand over Menasius' mouth as it looked like the paladin wanted to say something - but likely enough it was not going to be constructive. Soon, Tar-Baphon made the comment that such things always lead to fights, though didn't seem opposed to the idea. The two sides then resigned themselves to the battle.
Tar Baphon opened up with a spell, and the next thing the party knew they were encased in an acid fog. Kamira moved forward and saw a new combatant but went after the lich. Zalura followed her out of the fog and moved closer (but not too close) so that she could help Kamira. The boys came next, Alaric to the side and Menasius straight forward. Alaric cast a buff for the party while Menasius took a look at the other combatant and determined it was some sort of zombie. He disabled it by shooting a beam of light that blinded the creature, causing it to stumble for the rest of the battle, looking for targets.
(GM Note: I didn't want Tar-Baphon to be by himself so I had him create a "friend". I used the 17th level free hand fighter from the NPC Guide and added the Fast Zombie template. This is where I wished I had given him blind fighting as a feat...)
The lich activated his aura which paralyzed both girl's in fear. He then reached out and took some life source from Kamira to help bolster his own defenses. Throughout the battle, the lich kept moving, keeping the bard and paladin on their toes. Each of Alaric's attacks or attempts at major buffing were countered, returned or absorbed by the lich. The party had to dodge several blasts of magic by the lich, all of which Zalura couldn't dodge due to the lengthened time she was under paralysis. When she was able to act again, she was able to heal herself up and turned to attack the zombie that had come close to her.
The fight was brutal, and one set of spells knocked Zalura down - activating her determination ability. This brought her back from the brink of death. Recalling his own wish spell, Alaric used it to heal everyone in the party, giving them the energy to press on. Further spells hit the tyrant, and he could no longer keep ahead of the bard and paladin. Soon the lich crumbled to the ground - defeated for now. The party was able to retrieve the shard and leave. Kamira had considered grabbing some of the treasure, but the party decided that this might give Tar-Baphon a hold in the outside world and they decided to leave everything here. The bard then began to ask to leave so she could see the sun. Menaisus remarked that she would have to wait till they left Ustalav for that. But he cast Power of Faith to allow her to see some sort of sun.
It took several hours to walk back through the tunnels until they reached the portion that was closed over. Kamira looked for the switch which opened up the passage and allowed them to bypass the seal. Soon they exited the tunnel and returned to the open sky - or as open as it could be atop Gallowspire. As soon as they put Adorak behind them and were outside the influence of the Witch Gates, the group teleported to Lastwall. It was dark, and the bard was ready for a bath, but they pushed on to the university so that they could return the piece of the shield.
The shield was no longer being corrupted, but half of it was darkened. Menasius placed the last piece into the shield and it lit up brightly. When it dimmed, the party could see that it was now whole once more. This seemed to get the attention of some guards as Garvis and four others came in quickly to find the party standing there with the Shield of Aroden. Garvis seemed quite surprised and pleased to see that they were successful. He thanked them profusely and told them that if they ever needed anything within not only Vigil, but Lastwall, to just ask.
The party then turned to head back to the plane to get some rest and to see their families. Kamira said that she now had the means to finish her epic ballad. Menasius asked her to change his name within the story - but her pouting caused him to relent and allow her to keep his name in. And so ended the adventure of Alaric, Kamira, Menasius and Zalura. Each returned to their own lives, making things better for those around them. All comforted in the knowledge that they had at least put a stop to the rise of the Tyrant, at least within their lifetimes.
(GM Note: And so ends a successful campaign!)
I have read the carrion crown journals. Well done it sounded fun. Ah ah ah at Sausage effigy.
Thanks, it was a ton of fun and my group still talks about the campaign. Word play (both accidental and on purpose) continues on in our current campaigns. :)
After Tree Years, I applaude you. Your players saved your setting from the horror of the "Tyrant Grasps" adventure path.